Butterflies, Chihuly Glass, and Cactus Quilts...

Another of the many pleasures of the Desert Botanical Garden was the butterfly aviary.

My friend, Amanda, enjoys photographing the butterflies, too!

Dale Chihuly's glass installation is prominently featured near the entrance.

He will have another show of his glass sculptures at the garden in fall, 2013.

 Below is "Saguaro Sentinels", by Patsy Kittredge, who won an award for Best Use of Color at the Arizona Quilters Guild show.

Here is Pasty, posing next to her quilt.

Future Black Swallowtail butterflies have lunch in my garden...

See my little green friends?

My rose bed is planted with other things such as parsley, fennel, agastache, lavender, and Russian sage 

in order to attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds because they are such good pollinators.  Interestingly, the caterpillars have a very distinct preference for either fennel or parsley, depending on the variety of caterpillar.  Monarch caterpillars love the fennel, as you can see in the photo.